BONITA! That was the declaration of proud mum Angelita Paredes as she gave birth to her bouncing daughter - all thanks to a team of translators.

Midwife Lesley Taylor found herself in a bit of a quandary when Spanish-born Angelita, 24, started attending ante-natal classes and couldn't speak a word of English. Her husband Mohammed Anwar is from Pakistan and speaks only Urdu and Spanish!

Lesley, a community midwife with Burnley Health Care Trust, said: "I could speak a bit of Urdu but it was getting far too complicated to explain to Mohammed and have him then translate into Spanish.

"We could get by for routine check-ups but I could not guarantee that I would be able to be there all the time she was in labour and for the birth so I had to find someone who could speak Spanish and English.

"If there were complications or something technical had to be explained to Angelita I also wanted to make sure she fully understood what was going on."

Lesley came up with the brainwave of advertising in the Trust's in-house magazine and, to make sure she got the right person, she got a friend to write the advert in Spanish. She said: "I got people coming up to me and asking if I was taking Spanish lessons and another thought I had bought an apartment in Spain." But the advert worked and Lesley had a team of translators to help, including senior house officer Dr Ricardo Sainz Fuertes, who hails from Cartagena, southern Spain; Jackie Querol and Jackie Fernandez, both of whom have Spanish husbands; Vanessa Robinson, from the dining room, who is learning Spanish, and pharmacist Maria Vilches, who is also from Spain.

Dr Sainz Fuertes, who has worked in the psychiatric department for a year, was summoned to explain matters to Angelita when she was in the middle of her 12-hour labour and he was on hand to explain how the team midwives will visit the family at their Brierfield home once they are discharged.

The experience resulted in Lesley, who has just qualified as a supervisory midwife, learning as much Spanish as Angelita picked up English. When it came to empujas (push) and tranquilla (keep calm) they managed to make each other understood and 7lb 1oz girl Safina was the result.

Lesley added: "A lot comes naturally anyway!"

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